I did a recent blog entry called Garden Surprises where I documented some of the mutant plants in my garden. Today I discovered one more.
I was collecting seed from this Calendula 'Radio' plant this morning and came across this flower which had several smaller flowers growing out from the base of the main flower. Except for a few petals left on a tiny little flower you can see on the right, the smaller flowers are already in the seed stage. I was wishing I could have seen it while the smaller flowers were in still in bloom!
I got my wish a few minutes later when I saw this same mutation on another plant nearby. This one had three small side flowers growing out from the base of the central flower and they were each still wearing their petals!
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I like the color, a beautiful warm apricot (at least in the photos)
ReplyDeleteThey look like antennae! I'll have to be on the lookout for mutants!
ReplyDeleteWow that's awesome. Almost like when a planet has smaller planets or stars circling it's orbit. I hope you get to collect seeds from all of the heads and see what happens next year.
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on in your garden Connie? It's one surprise after the other. ;-) This one looks rather nice though, very Startrek. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi connie!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've been on your site ...
I had ugly mutant buds on virtually all of my purple coneflower. The horticulturist said it was diseased so I yanked it all out. For being mutant, your plants still look good. :O)
Wow, that is so interesting.
ReplyDeletei must check closer to see if i have some weird-o's in my garden. ha ha.
~Becky
I think they are pretty! Be sure to save seeds from them to see if you can get the same thing next year. I love that color.
ReplyDeleteNow that's one cool calendula! You do have some surprising things in your garden, don't you?
ReplyDeleteConnie, you left a comment a while back on my blog about the ornamental grasses. I'm sorry I didn't answer your question. I intended to look it up and then forgot. I think the grass you asked about is called maiden grass.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly do have some interesting things growing right now. Has your weather been unusually strange to cause these things?
Robin's Nesting Place - Thanks for the info on the ornamental grass.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has been hotter than usual, especially July, but other than that, nothing strange.
After reading your Garden Surprise entry I checked if there were any mutants in my backyard, but unfortunately there weren't. Nevertheless, it is great to come back to your blog and see more them in your garden. Have a nice week, Andrea
ReplyDeleteYes, it looks like little planets orbiting a larger one! How funny! I've never seen calendula do that before.
ReplyDeleteI love the thought of mutant plants still being beautiful.. So awesome looking.
ReplyDeleteAn alien invader? Could Bigfoot be around the corner :)?? Lovely photo!
ReplyDeleteMutants are cool.
ReplyDeleteI saw this same mutation in some of my calendula flowers this summer. Interesting, isn't it? They are like little bonus flowers on the side!
ReplyDeleteNow why didn't my calendulas do that? I love those! Okay, the cultivar is called 'Radio.' Maybe these are the antennae? LOL
ReplyDeleteBetter save the seeds on that mutant! Might become a cultivar named after YOU! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Connie:
ReplyDeleteFunny, my name is Connie also. I was looking for something about what I called a mutated calendula. I noticed the same thing in my calendulas today. I took photos. Here's a link to them:
http://eoni.com/~croman/calendula_mutation/index.html
Well, at least I caught a couple shots before they died off.
Connie... too
Hello Connie,
ReplyDeleteYour calendula looks so interesting.
Greetings,